Ballistic vests have saved the lives of many law enforcement officers in recent years. As a result, law enforcement agencies have made it mandatory for their officers to wear ballistic vests while on duty.
Ballistic vests are available as a protective panel having overlying layers of a fabric made from woven high tensile strength fibers. Woven fabrics from an aramid fiber known as Kevlar, for example, have been used successfully in ballistic vests because of the high energy absorption properties of the fabric material. Comfort of the ballistic vest is extremely important, especially to law enforcement officers, because of the heat build up that occurs from wearing a heavy and inflexible vest for long hours while on duty. Resistance to projectile penetration is a principle factor in designing a ballistic vest; and added protective layers can offer greater protection against projectiles having the higher threat levels, but added protective layers also add undesirable weight and inflexibility of the vests.
In addition to woven Kevlar fabric layers, ballistic vests have been made from other high strength fibers and composites to reduce weight and improve flexibility of the vests. However, ballistic vests using the lighter, more flexible materials must offer the required minimum levels of protection against penetration by different types of projectiles. The more flexible the ballistic fabrics are, the more bunching and backface deformation occurs upon impact from a projectile. A vest must not be too flexible where it cannot protect the wearer.
Ballistic vests are regularly certified by subjecting them to ballistics testing to measure their ability to protect against different projectiles fired from different types of weapons at various angles. One ballistic test commonly used in the industry is the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standard 0101.03 Threat Level IIIA. Which, in general terms, is a high performance standard requiring that the ballistic vests prevent penetration of specified 0.44 Magnum and 9 mm rounds fired at a velocity of at least 1,400 feet per second. In addition to prevent such projectile penetration, “backface deformation” is also a required test factor in the certification test. Backface deformation measures the trauma level experienced by a projectile that does not penetrate the tests panel.
There is a need to provide a ballistic vest that is reasonably light in weight, is thin and is comfortable, and is also capable of meeting the high performance projectile specifications of certification testing. Providing such a vest at a reasonably low cost for the comparable high performance level also is a desirable objective. Consequently, a need exists for an improved soft body armor design, namely, to improve ballistic performance and comfort and to reduce weight while simultaneously reducing blunt trauma.